I
have been fortunate throughout my years playing basketball because I have
always had coaches that were motivators. They always knew when I wasn’t giving
my best effort on the court and in the classroom, and they knew just what to
say to get me back in line. Sometimes it was an arm around my shoulder with
words of encouragement and other times it was them yelling at the top of their
lungs because they were running out of patience with me. I appreciate those
coaches for caring about me and trying to get the best out of me but when I
look back on those days, I realize that it really wasn’t their job to have to
motivate me ALL of the time. Don’t get me wrong, all coaches should be able to
motivate his or her players but if I had really understood at the time how
fortunate I was to be in the position that I was in being on the team, I should
have been able to motivate myself.
What I didn’t realize was that when buzzer sounded the last game of my senior year in college, it really wasn’t the coaches job to motivate me anymore. It was time for coach to use that energy on players that were still in his program.
When
I look back at my old teammates and analyze each one, I found that the Leaders
on the team were the players that were self-motivated. They pushed themselves
when they were tired. They were the first person to dive on the floor for a
loose ball at the 7:30 am practice when everyone else was dreading being there.
They didn’t want to be at practice that early no more than anyone else but they
were mentally tough enough to make themselves work hard. The self motivated
person was also that person that studied on the team bus for a test that was
scheduled for the day the team returned from a road trip instead of using being
gone as an excuse to postpone taking the test at a later date.
Again,
a self-motivated person is a leader and a person that has learned how to take
charge their lives: a person that can push him or herself to the limit even
when they don’t feel up to the task.
So
if a self-motivated person is a leader, what does that make a person that’s not
self motivated? A person that has to be constantly motivated in order to
perform is a follower. These people have no control of their lives. They are
like toys that need batteries to operate. They have to be forced to perform at
a high level and they are never consistent in their efforts. What’s sad is that
a lot of times, the people that are not self motivated are the most talented
and don’t realize how good they could be if they took control of their lives so
that they could maximize their ability. What’s scares me about these talented
young players is that if they don’t learn how to work and push themselves in
high school or college, what’s going to happen to them when they get into “the
real world” and have no one to depend on but themselves. Believe me, it’s a lonely feeling knowing you
are on your own and you haven’t taken control of your life. No one is forcing
you to go to class or looking over your shoulder to make sure you are getting
good grades. It’s all on you to motivate yourself.
If you don’t believe what I am saying, pay
attention to the classified ads for jobs. The ads will give a brief description
of the duties of the job and then they will tell you the kind of employee they
are looking for in their company. Ninety percent of the companies say they are
looking for a person that is self-motivated or a self-starter. Just like
coaches, companies want people that are going to go the extra mile to get the
job done. They also people that they don’t have to constantly monitor to get
them to perform. Companies and
Coaches
want people that are self-motivated. Better yet they want Leaders. Which are
you? Take a long look at yourself and
determine whether or not you are a leader or a follower. Are you in control of
your life or does someone have to wind you up like a toy to get you to perform?
Written
by Terry Boykin tboykin7@yahoo.com
